Guilty backpacker gets unwelcome travel souvenir

A French backpacker who pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing property after police found a large haul of bank cards and electronic goods at a hostel in Darwin has been told by a magistrate that he will have "a story to tell" when he returns to Paris.

Karim Radja, 26, was arrested on Wednesday after police found several plastic bags full of items including bank cards, mobile phones and an iPad in a hostel locker.

His lawyer said the items had come to Radja under an odd set of circumstances.

Radja claimed he found a wallet on a bus in Sydney, before travelling north to Airlie Beach in Queensland where he found a bag.

He then bought an iPad from another backpacker in Cairns.

The court was told the French tourist had been travelling for nine months and felt like the loneliness and drinking had made him a "bit strange in the head".

The court heard Radja has two masters degrees and had worked as a consultant at a big company in Paris.

It's a fundamental human yearning to be a part of something bigger than one's self, and maybe that's what drove my mate Ash to die, far from home, in a bloody foreign war against Islamic State, writes C August Elliott.